1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a signal processing apparatus, a signal processing method, a storage medium, and a program, and more particularity, to a signal processing apparatus, a signal processing method, a storage medium, and a program, capable of smoothly playing back a scene of interest with high image quality.
2. Description of the Related Art
A technique to convert an input image signal to an image signal with higher image quality is becoming popular.
It is known in the art to convert an original input image signal such that a particular area of the original image centered at a point of interest is enlarged or reduced (a specific example of such a technique may be found, for example, in Japanese Unexamined Patent Application Publication No. 2002-196737).
In a case of a moving image signal, a sequence of frames is continuously played back. In such a moving image signal, a scene of interest to a user generally includes not only a particular single frame of interest but a plurality of frames including the particular single frame in a time range. In some cases, a user wants to view a scene of interest in a slow playback mode, in which the scene is played back at a lower speed than a normal playback speed, to view details of the scene.
In the conventional image signal conversion technique, the image signal conversion is simply performed for specified frames. Therefore, although an area centered at a specified point of interest can be enlarged for each frame, each frame is displayed for a longer period in the slow playback mode than is displayed in the normal playback mode, and thus a smooth moving image cannot be obtained in the slow playback mode.